Windshield wipers tend to wear out quickly, as well as become embittered with age. These wear and embrittement problems usually result in wiper blades losing their effectiveness. Specifically, the wiper blades lose much of their flexibility so that only portions of the blades make contact with a windshield during a wiping operation. This results in streaks and dirt accumulation on the windshield which severely affects visibility.
In an attempt to overcome the problems of wear and embrittlement, a number of different types of windshield wipers have been designed. Many of these windshield wipers comprise spring-like flexural members attached to the wiper blades so that some of the wear and embrittlement may be offset through a biasing force provided by these flexural members. However, snow, dirt and other materials may accumulate about the flexural members and completely destroy their effectiveness. In this regard, accumulated snow often turns to ice which may cause the flexural members to temporarily warp out of shape, thereby pulling portions of a wiper blade completely away from a windshield. The use of these flexural members in snow climates has presented new problems associated with attempts to keep wiper blades in contact with the windshield at all times, while at the same time doing little to eliminate the problems of wear and embrittlement.
The general movement of the industry has been towards the design of windshield wipers which have quickly, removable, replaceable wiper blades. Basically, the industry's solution to the problems of wear, embrittlement and material accumulation in the flexural members has been simply to frequently replace the wiper blades. However, through the use of the present invention, the problems associated with wear, embrittlement and material accumulation are substantially reduced.